


Half-doomed & Semi-Sweet

by orphan_account



Series: you're the only place that feels like home [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Big Brother Diego Hargreeves, F/M, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Homeless Klaus, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Not Canon Compliant, Police Officer Diego Hargreeves, Siblings, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, but not really theyre just very connected, he is a main character though but its not just him, homeless vanya, mention of prostitution, not diego centric but the summary makes it look that way sorry, vanya and klaus are twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:00:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21820606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Diego hadn’t heard from any of his siblings in three long years now. Three long years of bliss, he said to himself clenching his teeth and hissing at the police scanner. He was not listening out for news of a junkie or a missing girl he wasn’t –Klaus and Vanya had always had some freaky connection between them, so when Klaus turns up after 5 years to tell Diego that Vanya is hurt with no proof, Police Officer Diego Espinoza has to take a backseat, it's big brother Diego Hargreeves time.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves/Leonard Peabody
Series: you're the only place that feels like home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572658
Comments: 9
Kudos: 353





	Half-doomed & Semi-Sweet

Diego hadn’t heard from any of his siblings in three long years now. Three long years of bliss, he said to himself clenching his teeth and hissing at the police scanner. He was not listening out for news of a junkie or a missing girl he wasn’t –

It was fine; Luther was busy doing whatever dad told him too, Allison was busy being a fake regular person and Vanya and Klaus were doing their own thing. 

He was finally doing his own thing too, after being the last to leave the Academy. He didn’t seem the type to stay behind but at least there he was doing something; he was helping people and he got to spend his free time with his mom. In fact, Diego had only left when he was 19, two weeks after Allison had simply because without Allison Luther was intolerable.

More surprising was the fact that Vanya, timid little number seven, had been the first one to leave (willingly, he thought with a wince of his missing brothers.), she had slipped out silently, seemingly between one breath and the next and it had had no impact on the academy at all. That wasn’t as surprising.

Klaus was next. Something had happened, he had had a bad trip and seen something that threw him, and he left in a storm of frantic limbs and shaky screams despite how badly Diego had wanted to lock him in his room and not let him go, even if he had hardly been ‘present’ for months. That happened 4 months after Vanya. Vanya left the day after Ben’s death.

He had not seen nor heard from them in particular for 5 years, and honestly, he pretended he didn’t have siblings. It was just easier not to have to explain to everyone at work that technically he had a criminal record that was filled with reports of murder and aggravated assault, but he was a child vigilante, _so it was okay._

Before he had left, he told Pogo and Mom what he intended on joining the force to do some real good, but legally this time, and they had made him a new identity to hide behind. Diego Espinoza, born on the 1st of October 1989, to Maria and Marcus Espinoza, an only child of only children who died when he was 18.

It took some getting used to the name Espinoza being yelled out with orders, but he felt that way about the name Diego too at first. He knew that he would always respond quickest to ‘Number Two’ no matter how sick and ridiculous that may seem. Even as long as it had been, he sometimes forgets to respond to Diego. He blames these ‘zone outs’ as bad hearing.

He had a respected job; he had an apartment and a girlfriend. Diego Espinoza was a regular man with hobbies, a life, and no siblings. There was nothing extraordinary about him. Sometimes Diego felt guilty that his life was a lie, but then he felt angry at his father for taking away his real identity in the first place.

It was best not to dwell on it.

He wasn’t as successful as Allison, but he had actually worked for what he had. He was much better off than his younger siblings. (Yes, they were all the same age, but Diego had grown up protecting them and he had never doubted that he was the eldest of numbers 2, 4, 6, and 7. 5 was always ancient. 1 and 3 barely ever spent enough time with them all to count as siblings rather than roommates.)

God, the idea of the two most unstable members of his family, the two he cared about the most, freezing to death in an ally made him physically sick so he tried his best not to think about them. If his scanner was tuned into the homeless patrol more often than not, it was an accident.

His wonderful, amazing girlfriend, Eudora Patch, never followed the Umbrella Academy as a kid, had no idea what their names were or their codenames so when Diego flinched at mentions of krakens and numbers, she took it as another one of his quirks, like talking continuously through mealtimes and having a knife collection.

Diego loved her for that.

But it did mean that when their shared apartment was broken into at 3 am, she insisted she would be as much help as him and so he grudgingly let her lead the way into the kitchen, with her pistol cocked and his knives hidden behind his back.

He couldn’t see too well over her, because of the slight 3 inches height difference and it being pitch black, but he recognised the figure rooting through his fridge just in time to stop his girlfriend braining his brother with the butt of her gun. The commotion of Diego swinging Eudora behind his back and away from Klaus caused her to yell out, thinking her impulsive boyfriend was going to rush the robber by himself. Her yell lead to a similar startled reaction from Klaus, who jumped involuntarily and smacked his head into the fridge door and then lead to curses, both mumbled and shouted.

“Diego! My man! Is that really any way to treat your favourite – “

Diego cut him off by making angry gestures, primarily trying to convey that Klaus should shut the hell up. The man leaning heavily on the counter, fridge now closed, just winced and squinted at the other like he couldn’t follow. Diego was going to kill him because they had been taught to use gestures in missions so either Klaus was being particularly obtuse, or he was high, or he had a concussion.

Maybe all three.

Despite the tense situation, Diego couldn’t hold onto any anger though. Klaus was very, very thin, and much taller than he had been when they were teens. He was the definition of gangly but didn’t look awkward in his own skin like Diego had been after his growth spurts. What was awkward was the constant twitching, shaking and muttering making him look just as insane as he very well might be. But Diego couldn’t focus on that too much when his little brother was wearing next to nothing, having come off the streets in the winter. It was snowing for fuck’s sake, and Klaus was wearing a mesh shirt and ripped pleather pants. He didn’t move to get him a blanket though, he was frozen on the spot when the lights had turned on and Diego caught the first glimpse of Klaus’ face in four years.

He hadn’t lost any of the ethereal pointedness of any of his features, that had honestly made Diego think he was an annoying changeling left behind as a kid, but now because he was half-starved, his facial structure seemed to sink into itself, being both hollow and dangerously sharp. He still smiled the way he used to after Ben had died, too much teeth and no emotion in his eyes. The green, sunken eyes were hard to really look into though, as they flitted about the room, over Diego and Eudora and seemed to dissect every piece of information before moving on. Diego knew the pattern; escape routes first, then possible weapons and then auxiliary information.

It seems five years of being homeless had sharpened at least some of dad’s lessons, even when he was out of his mind on drugs and had a possible concussion.

Eudora, on the other hand, very quickly realised that this was a home intrusion but nothing to really worry about and put her gun away efficiently, before casting a glare at Diego and refocusing her attention to the man standing in her boyfriend’s kitchen who was close enough to Diego that he wasn’t mad about him breaking in but not close enough to have been introduced to her in the last year and a half she had been dating him.

The silence reigned for a few more minutes while the two men sized each other up as though they could glean all the information they had missed over the last years without any words. Eudora thought that must have meant that they were very close, to know each other that well and she wasn’t far off, but it was also because they didn’t have any words to say. They never had, not for each other. For the Hargreeves, expressing yourself verbally was a weakness that had been beaten out of them by the age of 6.

She wasn’t used to the impassive weight of silence like they were, and so she was the first to break it. (Breaking the silence, for them, sometimes meant getting broken limbs, especially if it was dinner time… not that Father would break them himself, the lazy bastard.)

“Uh – Who are you?

“Oh, hello mademoiselle!” Klaus grinned maniacally and bent down in a shaky curtsy. Diego would be mad at him, but this the most Klaus-like he had seen him since the funeral, even if the shark grins were fake. “I take it from Diego’s protective caveman stance and your state of undress that you’re his girlfriend?”

Oh, yeah. They were still in their PJs.

“Eudora Patch, and again, who are you?”

“Klaus Hargreeves.”

Diego winced. He could see the gears turning in her brain. She knew the name at least, after all, Luther was still being sent out on missions and it is not like Allison hid her name or her past when they got her interviews.

“Hargreeves? You were part of that child cult thing a few years back?”

This time, the wince was accompanied by a forming headache. He saw Klaus’ smile drop all pretence, he unfolded his frame from how he had been slouched _and wow his baby bro had gotten tall_ and rubbed uncomfortably at his wrist. Oh no. He was here about the child cult and not just about needing drug money, like Diego had assumed.

Eudora took the silence and ran with it. “So why did a former vigilante break into the homes of two police officers? Why do you even know Officer Espinoza?”

Not the last name! Now she had shifted into interrogation mode, which is going to set off all of Klaus’ authority issues, Klaus would lose his cool at the fact Diego 1) is a police officer and 2) that he’s hid them away like the dirty secrets they were.

Just as Diego shifted forwards in an attempt to stop this going any further, Klaus had interrupted.

“Oh, no reason,” he drawled languidly. The look on Klaus’ face was very far away from the forced tranquillity he was trying to project.

Even Eudora knew that was bullshit.

“That’s bullshit, Klaus.” Oh, he’s speaking now, why did he start speaking.

“No, I get it. I’m just a random, homeless, good for nothing drug addict / child murderer that broke into the home of two upstanding officials of the law. Why don’t you arrest me? Hmm?” The last question was aimed at Eudora with a furious glare, he was building into a rant.

“Maybe I will!”

This was going well, he should have his family round more often, he thought bitingly.

“Woah woah let’s calm down. Klaus, bro, I’ve not seen you in years, there has to be a reason.” There, not leaning on one side or the other, maybe this will decrease the tension -

“I just thought Officer _Espinoza_ should know that _my_ baby sister has gone missing, _bro_.”

* * *

The silence was back.

It crept up his arms and his spine and crawled down his throat until he was choking on it. He could see his brother and girlfriend's mouths moving, shouting but no sound was coming out. Vaguely, distantly, he could feel that he was sitting at the kitchen table, his knees had likely buckled.

His baby sister. _Vanya_.

Klaus never called her that, only Diego ever did, when they were young and trying to be a family. Yes, they were all the same age and kind of not related (unless whatever divine intervention that lead to their births had DNA) but Vanya had always been the smallest of all of them. The one that needed the most protection and Diego was the most protective of them all.

Klaus was the only one not to see her as younger. The fact he had just know was the sharpest verbal barb he could find to stab into Diego’s side. Because she isn’t Klaus’ baby sister, she’s _Diego’s_. And she’s missing. But he didn’t know because he was busy denying that he was related to her, he had never even mentioned her to his long-term girlfriend and all of that was being hammered home through Klaus’ obvious disappointment.

She was missing, and he wasn’t there to protect her. She could be dead, or dying or in serious trouble or -

“I thought Allison was at- “Eudora attempted, knowing that this had taken a very serious turn from how her boyfriend had lost all the blood flow to his face. His knees shook and she gently helped him into a nearby chair.

“Not fucking Allison. Vanya.”

“I didn’t know there was another sister.”

Klaus barked a sharp, cruel laugh. “No, no one ever does.” The feral humour left just as quickly as it had come and with it went all of his energy. Klaus sank down into the nearest chair, throwing his whole weight into the wood and dragged a heavy hand down his face. His black nails rubbed at his temples, rings pressing harsh lines into his jagged cheekbones.

“Honestly, I’m so fucking mad Diego never mentioned her to you, but I guess he hid us all away pretty well. Guess we couldn’t have the police affiliated with the notorious Umbrella Academy, could we?”

They both cast a look at the man in question, who was still functionally catatonic. They both knew he was processing. He was overwhelmed and he’d re-join them in a few minutes once he could speak again. Eudora thought that it was the officer in him, trying to think about it from every angle. Klaus knew it was because he was trying to picture his response in his mind, trying to avoid stuttering and getting frustrated when the situation needed clear responses. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, but she was already building a phenomenal assumption.

“What I mean is your boyfriend, my dear, is a fucking LIAR!” The table shook with the force of his fist, but Eudora, to her credit, didn’t even blink.

“I’m beginning to see that.”

“And I’m beginning to see that it was a mistake to think that Diego would help.”

Klaus stood in a ruffle of black feathers like a put-out crow. Eudora knew he needed help, but honestly, she doesn’t know what she or Diego could offer in this situation, especially at this time of the night.

“Why don’t you report it at the station? During normal working hours?” She finally came up with, just as Klaus was opening the window to leave. He paused, fiddling with the latch before throwing her a scoff. It was enough to get him to put both feet on the floor again, absently swatting the air beside him like there was a fly only he could see.

“Like the police have every helped people like us before.”

Eudora felt slighted by that, she did her best to help everyone and so did Diego. “What? Vigilantes? Criminals?”

“No, that wasn’t Vanya. She was… is normal. She’s just another totally normal homeless girl that’s gone missing, a real fucking tragedy but not anything the cops would look into don’t you think?”

Diego shot up like a bullet. The other two had almost forgotten he was there, but now the horror carved into his face was unmistakably vivid. “V-V-Van is-hu-home-h- “

Diego took a break, rubbing at his forehead. He had prepared his words and then it this news destroyed it like a bomb had gone off on his tongue. Klaus waited for him to finish. Eudora was trying to hide her surprise. He had never stuttered around her before. “She’s h-homeless?”

“Yeah, D.” While his glare softened somewhat, Klaus’ eyes rolled around his skull so hard Eudora was worried he’d give himself a headache. “Way to keep up with the times. She has been for the past year.”

“W-What happened to her apartment, the one near the th-t-theatre?”

Klaus muttered something unintelligible about rent and rehab and violins that had Diego flinching. Eudora knew that he hated the sound of the violin, that it reminded him of something that he’d rather not talk about. Except he was talking now.

“Why didn’t she come to m-me? Why didn’t you b-both come to me? You had to know that I would n-never turn you aw-away, not you two.” 

Klaus stared at Diego blankly, cast a quick glance at Eudora, who had her hand on Diego’s shoulder then back at his brother. “We always were the disappointments. She didn’t want to disappoint you even more.”

Diego couldn’t even think of a response to that. Slowly, each muscle shifted, relaxing and tensing like a physical representation of his compartmentalisation. Hands first, Vanya’s missing. Shoulders, his siblings were vulnerable. Lock the emotions out of the way, put them aside. 

“How long has she been missing?”

Klaus shrugged, picking at his chipped nail varnish. He seemed too at ease for this conversation, but Diego knew he was covering himself up. 

“Well when was the last time you saw her?”

Another shrug, this time with a wince. “About 2 months ago... What! I didn’t want her to see me fucked out of my mind on meth and coke, I didn’t need my shivering angel of a sister to know that I’m useless, so we mostly just checked in with each other now and again.”

“Then how do you know she’s missing?”

“Because I fucking know, Two!”

Another voice popped up, “Two?”

Klaus leant forwards once again with his elbows perched on the table and spun his hands in a flourish. “It’s a nickname Officer Patch, because Diego here was always best at playing second fiddle.”

Diego sneered at his smirking face.

“Klaus,” Diego spat, “how do you know she’s missing?”

“I can feel it.” Suddenly, as if reminding the couple that he was notoriously high and unstable, Klaus turned 180 degrees and yelled, “Fuck you, I’m trying but he won’t believe me!” at their microwave.

“Are you fucking high?”

“Of course, I am! When am I not, little ol’ Klaus?” Klaus was laughing, but Diego was starting to look downright murderous. Eudora was staying out of it, she was clearly missing important information, but the conclusion she was coming to was scaring her more than anything else, even more than Diego’s current expression.

“You think that Seven is missing, and you stopped to get drugs. You’re fucking unbelievable.”

“Screw you, Two, you don’t know anything about us. You haven’t since we were 17.”

“You left! You both fucking ran away, how was I meant to find you!?”

“It doesn’t matter now, as long as you can help me find V now.”

“I can help if you tell me how you know.”

“I – “he sighed defeatedly. “I can feel her pain. I always could. Last three weeks, she didn’t leave a note in any of our usual spots and this feeling started up, cold and searing. She’s worried, more than she normally is. I don’t know what else to tell you, but it’s true. Remember when her meds went up when we were fifteen? Dad was pissed because it put both of us out of commission for two weeks until she got used to them again.”

“It’s a twin thing, huh?” Diego huffed.

Klaus just nodded, suddenly looking drained. Diego stood, ran his hand roughly through his brother’s mop of curls and tried to ignore the skip in his heart when Klaus pushed his head further into his palm like a touch starved cat. His littlest siblings, out on the streets and alone, neither one thinking he could help. God, how did they fall apart so fast? _(Ben and Five, Ben and Five, Ben and Five, his mind chanted back, tauntingly)_

“Let’s go find my baby sister.”

* * *

They left Eudora behind at the apartment, she knew that it wasn’t her place to tag along, but she made it clear before the two men had left that Diego had a lot to answer for, and it may be too much for them to survive, not that it was the right time to hash that out.

The drive with Klaus was hauntingly quiet, with him only speaking to direct Diego where to go to search, which gave them both too much space to think.

Klaus and Vanya had both been regarded by all of their siblings as the two youngest, and in a bid not to be younger than the other, they had decided at 9 years old that they were twins. Despite how much their dear father separated them during the day with training and lessons and trauma, they shared a bedroom wall. They were the two worst sleepers, always plagued with nightmares and breakdowns, so they decided to learn Morse code one Sunday, just so they could tap out messages to each other for comfort, without breaking the rules. Whole knocked conversations took place on the darkest nights, and it became routine to tap out N O T A L O N E or L O V E Y O U or just H E L L O on their shared wall every night, but also at the breakfast table, for Vanya to hide it in her compositions, for Klaus to tap his pen in lessons.

They were the two biggest disappointments, the two-black-sheep, the two most useless and the two most kind of the family. They shared a deep connection, no matter how much none of the others understood: surely, they were either all septuplets or bust? But when both of them were asked they’d say they could just feel it.

They were all siblings and friends and teammates and rivals and strangers; but only Klaus and Vanya were allowed to be twins. They didn’t tell anyone their secret power, not even 5 or 6. But Vanya could never hide her emotions from Klaus, no matter how numbed and sedated she was. Klaus, who wore his emotions on his sleeve, liked to downplay all his hurt, but Vanya would flinch whenever his bruised ribs complained.

They were never identical though. Physically, Klaus had always towered over petite little Vanya, but most importantly their personalities were so different. Klaus never held back an opinion, would turn everything into a joke, was constantly and vividly alive, where Vanya haunted the academy as a polite little ghost who only spoke in whispers and left no impression of life behind.

They were both addicts. Vanya was perpetually popping her prescription pills and Klaus would let any poisonous substance into his body like it belonged there. They both needed the most help from the family. Dad hated them both. They both lost their best friends.

But Diego was always their big brother. The protector. Vanya wouldn’t speak after Five left unless she had Klaus by her side, but the only way she let them leave for a mission would be if Diego went to see her first. Every mission, he went to her room to calm her down and promise that he’d never let anything happen to any of them again. That she could count on him to keep them all together. She’d cry into his shoulder; he’d tuck a knife into her hand with a whisper that they’d all be safe.

And then Ben had died, and Diego had broken his promise to her, and then she had slithered out of their lives as if she had never existed at all. He didn’t know how or why she had left but all that mattered was she did. She chose to put herself in constant danger rather than be with her family. And when she left, she took all of the twin’s shared kindness too. Between her leaving and Ben’s death, Klaus transformed into some callous, unrecognisable shell of his old self. Watching him fill the space of the Hargreeves’ ghost hurt almost as much as everything else that had happened that week.

He stopped speaking to anyone, he tore down the wall between his and Vanya’s room and put all of her belongings in some unused wing of the too big mausoleum of a house and erased her physical presence just as well as she had ever done. Ben’s room was preserved so well sometimes Diego would see his brother reading on his bed as he passed through the corridor before the realisation hit him like a bullet, again and again, and again.

Klaus OD’d three times in the span of the four months before he left. When he finally did, he followed in his sister’s footsteps and took nothing. But just like Ben and Five, Diego could never stop seeing his brother in his room, even though it was years after he’d left. Vanya left her impression only in his peripheral vision, just a flash of long dark hair, a haunting violin note. Now the place that was called home had 4 ghosts haunting the halls, even if only one had ever actually died.

Maybe, some nasty part of Diego’s brain thought, Klaus was her twin because she was always so close to being a living ghost that his powers connected them, that she was never really alive. Maybe it was the feeling of Vanya’s overwhelming numbness watered down and transferred to Klaus that was the catalyst for his addictions. Maybe it was that empathy that had been their real superpowers.

Maybe it was the ability to survive. Both of them have endured so much at only 22 years old, Diego didn’t think he would be able to cope out there. He took up too much space, he was too much of a whole person. Klaus and Vanya had only ever been each other’s halves, they fit in with the broken population.

Sometime just after their third hour in, Klaus gasps like he’s having a heart attack. He was clutching at his chest like he was trying to gain access to his sternum through brute force, his breaths being punched out in dry wheezes and any words escaped him completely, but as soon as it had started it stopped again.

“Something’s wrong,” was all Klaus could manage once his breathing was back under control. It took all of Diego’s self-restraint to hold back the _no shit_ waiting on the tip of his tongue.

“She passed out; I think that’s why it stopped. And she wasn’t just scared, she was betrayed, and ashamed, too. It’s someone she was close to, I’m guessing, that’s beating her up.”

Klaus had no sooner relayed the information when the police radio spluttered its way into existence, with a declaration of a domestic disturbance, an elderly lady was complaining about her neighbour playing the violin and but then it stopped and there was a crash, followed by yells and a thud like someone had fallen to the floor.

Diego had never broken so many traffic laws before. They were both on the scene in 8 minutes.

Both brothers broke into the apartment reported, not giving a damn about laws or procedures, just being driven by the need to be sure that this was her, that they could get to her in time.

The apartment was nice, to put it, well … nicely. It was clean and sparsely decorated and altogether just boring. There were no pictures up, no books or any personal information more than just bland abstract artwork that looked more at home in a waiting room. It reminded Diego of the Academy. Perfectly nice to look at, but there was something wrong, hidden just in the corner of your eye.

Granted, this place didn’t have posters with G is for Gouging, H for Homicide, but it was still unsettling.

Pushing Klaus behind him, Diego stood just behind the doorway to what he assumed was the bedroom and stood with his finger on his lips. That Klaus had to follow.

There was nothing, but then – wait – muttering. A guy, maybe their age, local accent, was muttering about damn hospital bills, about some bitch not being grateful, that if she had been better, he wouldn’t have had to hit Vanya –

Klaus suddenly was no longer behind him but straddling the man’s back, hitting him repeatedly with what looked like an ornament - a wood carving of a violinist. The guy ripped the carving out off his hands, turned around and tried to slug Klaus in the face, but before his fist could ever make contact Diego had him in a chokehold, pulling him away from his brother, off of his position straddled over their unconscious sister.

The guy still struggled, pushing against Diego’s arms but Klaus was up and had broken the man’s nose with one effective punch to the face. Quick and controlled, he really hadn’t forgotten his training, Diego was proud. Once confirming he was out like a light, Diego dropped him unceremoniously to the floor and wiped his hand where the man had bitten him in desperation on his jacket with a sneer of disgust.

“Hey V,” Klaus spoke so gently that it was hardly audible even in the silence of the bedroom. Vanya, obviously, didn’t reply from where she was face down on the bed, sleeping. God, please let her just be sleeping and not in any more danger.

Klaus was by her head in a second, stroking her long her reverently, pushing out of the way of her face, running his fingers over her features and telling her that it was all okay now. Probably more to comfort himself than their motionless sister.

Diego tenderly rolled her over onto her back and tried as hard as he could not to have a nervous breakdown as he assessed the damage. She had a pulse, which calmed his hyperventilation down considerably. She had angry red marks around her throat that were sure to bruise badly in the coming days, and she had a small cut on her bottom lip as well as on her cheekbone that was an obvious result of a hard slap.

There was nothing to suggest there was any long-term abuse, the injuries had all occurred this morning by the looks of it, and she looked like she was eating regularly and had access to showers and clean clothes which meant that she hadn’t been on the streets for a while now. Aside from her throat she still looked healthier than Klaus, but she still hadn’t woken up and Diego was more worried about oxygen deficiency to the brain if she had been asphyxiated.

Okay, call the ambulance, then call in the crime; get that dick in jail and Vanya a fucking restraining order. Then cry and punch something.

* * *

Vanya woke up in the hospital and her first thought was: fuck, again?

The next two were: wait, what happened? And: why am I so hot?

The second one was easy to answer once all of the memories of this morning rushed back to her. Was it this morning? How long had she been out for? Whatever, the memories of what was this morning to her were very suddenly the only thing she could think about. Leonard.

As much as she wanted to scream and cry and sob until there was nothing of her left but tears and self-pity, she just laid there, half sat up against the pillows and fiddled absently with the hospital tags around her wrist. Her emotions never managed to manifest themselves properly and now all the rage and misery was imperceptible and it’s not like she could tell anyone what she was feeling, that she needed help because even if she wasn’t super she was a Hargreeves and that’s not how things worked. She didn’t deserve help, in all honesty.

“Okay let’s tone down the screaming, sis. I’m trying to sleep, and you feeling guilty about that shit-stain will absolutely ruin my nap.”

Oh, that was what the warmth on her lap was. Klaus had his head pillowed on her thighs, covering them both in more than a few blankets. God, she loved her brother, she knew how much he hated hospitals, but he was here for her. Vanya could feel the smile emerge from her aching chest, taking over her face and she threaded both hands through his messy curls. There was a slight sheen on his forehead which meant he was at the very end of a comedown, so he had been here with her for a while at least. He pressed back against her hands for a second, sighing heavily, then haking his head violently for a few seconds, he stretched languidly.

He shared a trait with all numbers 1 through 6 which was making the most mundane behaviour seem dangerous and powerful and now just through stretching he gave off the air of a hyena, in those moments where you think them cute and amusing until you see their teeth. Vanya was laughable in comparison. Klaus was a hyena; she was a harvest mouse. Not even a blade of grass would be affected by her.

He shot her a smile that unnerved most people: too much tooth, too wide, too threatening, but she was always comforted by it. It was the opposite to her own shy facial twitch, and she loved to see it. She could feel somewhere in her chest those emotions that were so overpowering, even watered down. The ones that weren’t hers. She didn’t know how but she could feel that Klaus was mostly just relieved, of course, there was a peppering of rage that stuck out from the usual fear and apathy.

Leaning over to press his face way too close to her own he tapped her on the nose. “Not to say that it isn’t valid, but can we keep the freak-out for later, after you tell your favourite twin and Diego what happened yesterday?”

Vanya nodded but – Diego? Oh, he was taking up the whole doorway, essentially barring anyone else from entering. His arms were crossed, and he had a scowl on his face, but his eyes were soft, concerned.

“Hey Van. Uh – I’m sorry I didn’t notice you were freaked, I, um, I couldn’t really tell. But you shouldn’t feel bad about the dickhead. He’s behind bars right now anyway.”

Vanya just shrugged uncomfortably, settling her head on Klaus’ shoulder, purposefully focusing on the first sentence. “Don’t worry. It’s a twin thing.”

Diego tried not to feel left out, and quietly prompted Vanya to start at the beginning of her story.

“Leonard found me at my lowest, three months ago. I lost my violin, so I couldn’t busk anymore. I had no money for food and the shelters were all full. Worse than that, I couldn’t afford my prescription, so I was forced to come off them cold turkey. Shakes, sweats, wishing for death, the usual.”

Diego’s jaw dropped at that, just a little, but Vanya carried on before she could lose her nerve. She could feel in that space in her heart that Klaus was thinking confident, bold thoughts to help her along.

“So yeah, I was ready to do anything to get them.”

This time Klaus flinched beside her and Diego looked like she had just murdered everyone he loved, he was in such a state of shock and despair. He marched over to her bedside and threw himself down into the nearest chair, head bowed for a few moments. After an eternity, he dragged his eyes up to hers and threaded their hands together.

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

“I tried, D. But Klaus must have found the wrong address, or you’d moved, or something.”

“No, that was the same place I went yesterday Van, what happened?”

“Nothing. There was just this lady who insisted that the Diego that lived there had no siblings. It was obvious she thought I was a liar and I don’t blame her to be honest; I was a wreck and desperate and it’s not like we look alike D, she probably thought I was gonna steal something,” Vanya added to calm her brother down. It really wasn’t that lady’s fault, or Diego’s for hiding her, only her own.

“So, I apologised and left, and Klaus had gone underground for a bit, so I went back to the academy, but Dad turned me away, saying I had no place there. I had to get the money however I could, so I went back to my alley.”

Vanya shook herself and was quick to reassure them, when her brothers were about to start ranting about their dick of a dad. It wasn’t the biggest issue she’d faced.

“Nothing happened though! Leonard was my first attempt I guess, he seemed nice and lonely which was the best combination I could hope for and when I asked him if he’d like some company - I don’t know, I guess he took pity on me? He said that he’d never let me, um, let me sell myself again and he gave me the money for the prescription, for food, starting buying me little things, starting spending more and more time with me and a month later he offered to let me stay with him.

“We started dating around then too. He was really sweet, and kind, and he gave me everything I needed, and… he saw me. Like, I said that I used to be a violinist and he went out and bought me one after our first argument. He started getting controlling a little while ago though, he wouldn’t let me get a job because I needed to recover, he said, so I was with him 24/7. He’d make me practice the violin because it was a waste to let my one talent go. Just little things. That morning I had found all my notes I had left behind for Klaus; he’d gone back to my alley and taken them. I confronted him about it, but he said why did I need my junkie brother, that my family never loved me. Only he ever would.”

Vanya had to hold up her hand to prevent a litany of protests that escaped before she was able to get a word in edgewise. She told them, pressing her shoulder against Klaus’, squeezing Diego’s fingers, that she knew that they loved her, and that’s what the argument was about. Then, she told them, he was yelling about how she was unappreciative that he had taken in such an unlovable whore and attacked her.

Diego then filled in what happened on their side, confident enough in the fact that he had helped save her that he didn’t stutter once. 

And Vanya hadn’t lied, she knew logically that her brothers loved her but sometimes, she remembers the isolation of her childhood and she wanted more than anything to really be one of them. Then she always got mad at herself for being selfish, she had had Klaus and Five who would lose sleep just to spend time with her against their father’s orders. Sometimes, she even had Diego who’d slip in five minutes to spend with her every couple of days, just to be there. But a life lived half in silence took its toll.

Hearing how worried her brothers had been, how much they loved her was like a balm for her heart, soothing decade-old aches.

About an hour later, when they were discussing how she was going to press charges against Leonard formally a nurse entered the room. Her look of surprise at the two visitors was just the right side of professional to know that those two had snuck in here outside of hours, not that they were both intimidating leather-wearing freaks.

“Ms Hargreeves,” she began, frowning at the words ‘Number Seven,’ listed under First Name. “Glad to see you awake.”

The nurse, Linda, then went through the necessary information about her current state, the tests she’d need to undergo now that she was conscious and due to her situation whether she would be considering terminating the pregnancy as there would be more forms to fill –

“Terminating the WHAT.”


End file.
